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“I can’t wait for this year to end!” says student who thinks the pandemic will randomly stop because of an arbitrary date

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PHOTO: Gudrun Wai-Gunnarsson / The Peak

By: Kyla Dowling, Peak Associate

In a few brief weeks, it will be 2021, and we all know what that means. The minute the clock strikes midnight on New Years’ Eve — but like, specifically midnight where I am because the world is centred around me — peace and balance will be restored to the world. It’ll be like when Avatar Aang defeated the Firelord. (He was totally a Libra by the way.) 

“But Kyla,” you ask me, “how will this work? How will we regain peace and balance when there’s a global pandemic, murder hornets, white supremacists, and — the worst of all — The Lorax isn’t available on Canadian Netflix?” Do not worry, my sweet fledgling. Take a deep breath. Forget your ties to the pathetic mortal world and ascend with me to a higher plane of thinking. You know those galaxy brain memes? I have surpassed the galaxy brain. I am God. 

Here’s what will happen: COVID-19 will cease to exist; all those afflicted will be in full health, and people will burn their masks in the streets because masks totally aren’t helpful for any other illness. Climate change? Nah. The polar bears will be chillin’. Racism will be eradicated — because that was exclusively a 2020 problem and will be solved as soon as we flip a page in our calendars. Duh. We will roam our purified earth as eternal vegans whose foundation actually matches our skin tones, probably. Veganism is the end-all solution to the global health crisis, right? Don’t worry, whoever swaps the world over for the new year will worry about the details. World Peace ! 🙂

You might be thinking that the new year isn’t enough to bring peace and balance again. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it — you need to start thinking more like the politicians giving promises but doing nothing to catalyze them. Homophobia? Gone. Gender-neutral bathrooms? Everywhere. Anyone with a Cancer placement in their big three? Imprisoned. The prison system? Eradicated, besides the previous point. Joe Biden? No longer a bigoted predator and is set to assume office at 12:01 on January 1, 2021. Donald Trump? Golfing with his ol’ pal Ivan the Terrible, hopefully. 

We don’t have to put any work into wearing a mask or educating our racist families. Soon, this cursed year of 2020 will come to an end. All we have to do is wait.

Holiday season jeopardized by the dreaded Disney Adults buying all the Disney merchandise

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PHOTO: Gudrun Wai-Gunnarsson / The Peak

By: Alex Masse, Peak Associate

The toy stores open during this pandemic — endangering workers just so some kid can play with Lego for five minutes then lose interest — found their Disney sections utterly gutted by a different plague: Disney Adults. 

Following the sweep of anything remotely Disney-esque, parents were left wandering countless aisles, looking for anything with Elsa’s face on it for their children’s gifts. As the neck of the last Cinderella Barbie snapped, so too did the Karens and Sharons in the store. A lunchbox with Woody’s face on it was carried away by a woman in torn clothes while she mumbled the words to “You Got A Friend in Me” to herself.

An adult that likes Disney morphs into a Disney Adult when their fondness for the franchise overrides natural instincts regarding social norms and self-preservation. 

A Disney poster in your room? That’s fine. 

A Little Mermaid tattoo? Chase your bliss! 

Spending your child’s college fund on vintage Mickey memorabilia? Yeah, you’re pushing it. 

Risking your asthmatic partner’s life just to go to Disney World right now because of your withdrawal symptoms from churros? That’s a Disney Adult. 

Disney Adults present themselves as benign, if a bit saccharine — but at the end of the day, you don’t matter to them. They don’t matter to themselves. All they care for is their Mouse God. 

While reporting on a Walmart hit particularly hard by a swarm of Disney Adults, I actually encountered one named Marina in the wild. She was Disneybounding as Snow White and taking singular bites out of every single apple in the store. For those who don’t know, Disneybounding is essentially modeling outfits off characters in a more subtle style than cosplaying.

Please don’t ask me why I know this. 

Marina explained that this was the first year Disney had experienced financial loss in decades, despite owning basically half of all media and churning out toys every second. This terrified her. All the Disney Adults rallied together in hopes of turning profits around. 

“I’m more into the old stuff,” she told me. “Like, 70s or earlier. But I’m putting taste aside for the sake of a good deed. I even bought a Star Wars Funko Pop!” 

I knew someone who collected vintage Mickey Mouses (is the plural Mickey Mice? Mouseses? Meese?) — well, whatever the case, those things are terrifying. 

I explained that every company is losing money right now, and that Disney’s monopoly would easily bounce back once this pandemic ended. Why not support local businesses? 

Before I could go on, Marina assured me that her devotion would be rewarded, if she just wished upon a star. Gross.

To which I admitted that, yeah, these were bound to be vintage and valuable someday. 

“Oh, for sure, but I’m talking about the day I get my citizenship,” Marina told me. 

I asked what she was talking about. 

“It’s inevitable. One day, Disney will have enough power for its parks to become independent and expand into proper empires. Those of us who help Disney the most will get Disneyland citizenship and be permanent residents in the Happiest Place on Earth. My husband and I have been at it for years. The rest of you, well . . . ” She chuckled.

I waited for some sign she was joking. It didn’t come.

Marina took my silence as awe. “You know, if you want, I’ll put in a good word with the Mouse.” 

I told her she could do whatever she pleased. Then, because I needed to get the hell out of there, I asked her about Mickey Waffles. Specifically, what the difference was between a Mickey Waffle, a renowned Disney Parks delicacy, and a regular waffle in the shape of Mickey Mouse. 

Her eyes glazed over. I made my escape. 

Gets ‘em every time. 

Four unique BIPOC businesses to support this holiday season

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Give your friends and family gifts that are conscientiously sourced.

By: Yelin Gemma Lee, Peak Associate

Mumgry

Mumgry is a Black-owned business that sells nutritious and ethically sourced nut butters. Their target audience is moms, and their goal is to take the stress out of nutritional snacks during every stage of motherhood. But you know who is also super snacky all the time and struggling to nourish themselves? Me. Students. Trust me when I say, their pistachio chocolate almond butter is the perfect consolation after a good stress cry over your impossible workload. 

If you don’t feel like ordering online, you can find Mumgry’s products for sale at Old Crow Coffee. Everyone that works at Old Crow is an absolute gem, especially Steph — the powerhouse queer Asian owner. They also carry lots of other BIPOC-owned pantry goodies as well so it’s worth a gifting visit — also their vegan grilled chez is to die for.

Decolonizing Daughters

Found in New Westminster, this business is owned and operated by two Indigenous women. Everything in their shop “is handmade; from the products themselves to cutting the logos out. Everything is made with intention, love, and in ceremony.” Sounds pretty sweet, right? They specialize in affordable medicinal wellness products including candles, massage bars, lotions, roll-ons, bath teas, and more. They also sell some gorgeous handmade jewelry and offer a gift wrapping option — so your busy ass drowning in finals for most of December won’t have to do it the night before, like you do with most things.

kyth + kyn

This shop is Chinese-owned and focused on modern Chinese herbal medicine to take care of your family and friends. What better time to give gifts that protect your loved ones with herbal products that aid in optimizing health? kyth + kyn prides itself in “using only premium and organic quality herbs without harmful pesticides [ . . . ] [and] are lovingly handcrafted by a Holistic Nutritionist and Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctor in Vancouver, BC.” They carry herbal soup and tea blends, as well as convenient bundles perfect for gifting. 

Spirit Bear Coffee

The simplest gift to give is coffee. Many of us rely on this coffee bean nectar to the point where we are always running out and having to get more. Why not support Indigenous-owned Spirit Bear Coffee based in Port Coquitlam? They have a strong environmental mission focus, supporting and collaborating actively with social initiatives such as Ocean Alliance, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and several more. They have a wide variety of coffees and compostable coffee pods available, as well as office bundles which I don’t think are too shabby of an idea for that coffee addict in your life working from home. My personal favorite blend is Thunderbird: Dark French Roast, although I have yet to try all of the blends they offer.

Students raise concerns regarding reconciliation and transparency at Aboriginal Steering Committee meeting

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PHOTO: Gudrun Wai-Gunnarsson / The Peak

Written by: Karissa Ketter, News Writer 

The Aboriginal Steering Committee (ASC) meeting was held over Zoom on November 12, 2020 to update the ASC on the First Peoples’ Gathering House project — which aims to provide a space for Indigenous students, staff, and faculty. SFU previously faced concerns from students regarding the lack of Indigenous student consultation for the Gathering House. The ASC was a closed meeting, and as a result, students were blocked from entering — this raised questions about reconciliation efforts from students who hoped to stand in solidarity with Indigenous students and also concerns regarding transparency from administration. There are three Indigenous students who sit on the ASC committee and were the only students allowed to attend.

Questions about the intent of SFU’s reconciliation efforts have been voiced by First Nations Student Association (FNSA) members Zachery Pelletier, Kali Stierle, and Astrid Wilson. Pelletier and Stierle were two of the FNSA representatives at the meeting, but Wilson was one of many students barred from entering. In an interview with The Peak, Stierle noted that “if the work [SFU is] doing is for Indigenous students then there should be Indigenous student voices represented.”

The SFSS’ VP Student Services Matthew Provost also attended the meeting as a guest as he “usually goes to those meetings because [he was] sitting in the FNSA seat prior to being on the SFSS Board.” He noted his concerns around the decisions regarding who is put on the committee and questioned why a non-Indigenous administrator “gets a spot over an Indigenous student who’s being directly impacted by the choices that are coming out.” 

Stierle reflected on an encounter she had with administration, where upon voicing the concerns of the ASC, administration allegedly disagreed with them and stated that they maintained proper reconciliation efforts. She explained that “an ongoing issue with [SFU’s] consultation process is that they aren’t including Indigenous student voices.” Stierle added, “We weren’t able to properly voice our concerns, we really were just like a footnote to their agenda. But this is an ongoing process.” 

Provost noted that “ultimately, SFU has taken on the responsibility to do reconciliation. If they want to do reconciliation, then they have to do it in a good way or else it’s meaningless — it doesn’t mean anything, at least to us.” He went on to say, “In my opinion, it doesn’t do anything for myself if it’s not done with good intentions or with the right people involved or their excluding voices.” 

Tiffany Akins, SFU Director of Media Relations & Public Affairs, said in an email statement to The Peak that the terms of reference for the committee explain why the committee will only allow three students to be present. She noted that “the First Nations Student Association will nominate two students, one undergraduate and one graduate student if possible, to the steering committee for one-year terms.” 

These reference terms mandate how many student voices will be recognized on the council. According to Akins, the “the committee serves as a vehicle for communication across faculties and other units and facilitates liaising with the Indigenous community representatives.”

The BIPOC Committee’s At-Large Representative Marie Haddad noted that she attempted to join the meeting as a “silent protest, just being there and supporting Indigenous students” and expressed that showing support “is so essential when it comes to student presence [ . . . ] Especially since there were so many governing bodies in the meeting and only three students, which is such an overpowering dynamic.” 

Haddad hoped to create a supportive environment for Indigenous students to ensure they felt heard. However, she was also removed from the meeting. “When I first got the ‘host kicked you out’ notification I was actually really taken aback.” To Haddad, it shows that being “pushed out as [an ally and] saying we don’t need ally work here” is significant. 

Wilson believes that if SFU is “that scared to hear from Indigenous students and allies then [ . . . ] there’s something wrong on their end, there’s nothing wrong on our end.”

Another concern for the FNSA members was the lack of preparation time they received for the meeting. According to Pelletier, they received the agenda the night before. He noted that this caused an issue by stating: “We represent our membership and if we can’t be given that time to speak to our membership we can’t properly reflect their concerns and voices at these committees.” Provost agreed that it indicates that their opinions are not being valued and their time isn’t respected. 

The chat feature during the meeting was initially disabled — which was an accessibility and communication barrier. To Provost, “it’s just a way to ensure that there’s a power dynamic there, that they’re setting so that students don’t have the ability, or have the option, to participate properly in those spaces.” He concluded that “that’s not a safe space for Indigenous students.” Provost stated that he received an email stating his concerns would have to be directed to at the time Vice-President, Academic and Provost pro tem Jonathan Driver and Interim Director, Office for Aboriginal Peoples Ron Johnston as they requested that they disable the chat.

Stierle noted that after herself, Pelletier, and Provost asked for the chat to be enabled multiple times, it eventually was. “It was something that could have been done from the beginning. There was no real reason to keep the chat diabled besides the fact that they were scared of what we were going to say,” said Stierle.  

Provost reiterated the sentiment given in his statement, and he “would like to see an apology and also an acknowledgment — a statement acknowledging that there has been harm caused by not including [more] Indigenous student voices and excluding keystone community members at SFU from attending these events.”

Provost also noted that the consultation around the First Peoples’ Gathering House “is not adequate” and he would like to see at least one FNSA member be appointed to sit on that committee. From his recollection, SFU conducted one meeting in the Indigenous Student Centre for consultation on the project. Beyond that, Provost has noted they only send updates where he would like to see continued consultation. 

In response to student concerns, President Joy Johnson released the following statement to The Peak. 

“SFU must acknowledge our role in the harm that has been done to Indigenous peoples through education and research. I am committed to reconciliation as one of my three priorities during my presidency. SFU’s Indigenous faculty, staff, and students are leaders in integrating Indigenous knowledge, methodologies, and learning practices at SFU. The university needs to support and extend that work, which is why the ARC Report was commissioned and delivered in 2019 and $9 million allocated to support its 34 Calls to Action.

“I encourage you to visit SFU’s Reconciliation website to read the report and stay informed of how we are implementing the report. Connecting with SFU’s Indigenous community members is important to me.”

The Peak also reached out to Jonathan Driver — who was Vice-President, Academic and Provost pro tem at the time of writing — in regards to student concerns, however he declined to comment, given that Johnson had already provided a statement. 

The FNSA has released a detailed statement outlining the Calls to Action they would like to see from SFU. 

The exploitation of Research Assistants (RAs) by SFU

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Photo courtesy of Simon Fraser University.

By Serena Bains, Staff Writer

Research is one of SFU’s three pillars in its strategic vision, resulting in $161 million in income. Research assistants (RAs), a group that primarily consists of graduate students at SFU, conduct much of the day-to-day research. 

For years, RAs have raised concerns about their working conditions, their contributions not being recognized, low wages, and the theft of their intellectual property (IP). Thus, the Teaching Staff Student Union (TSSU) led a campaign for SFU to recognize research as work and include RAs in the union. On November, 15 2019, SFU and TSSU signed an agreement recognizing TSSU as the union for RAs and grant employees.

To an undergraduate student not familiar with the issue like myself, it seemed as though the campaign was successful and that RAs would soon be receiving the appropriate wages and benefits for their labour. While the former is true, SFU has not kept up their end of the bargain. In fact, SFU has violated the voluntary recognition agreement multiple times, and has failed to take action to prevent the theft of graduate students’ work and their resulting IP.

According to the Research is Work campaign, SFU has violated the agreement in the following ways: 

  • SFU refuses to recognize TSSU as the union for RAs 
  • SFU initially refused to provide TSSU a list of RAs until ordered to by a mediator 
  • SFU refuses to start the collective bargaining process
  • SFU has attempted to exclude scholarship RAs and work-study RAs. 

The need for a union is clear. RAs receive irregular payment, and sometimes no payment at all, for their work. There have even been cases where RAs are reprimanded for reporting unsafe work conditions. 

An anonymous RA provided an account of their experience(s) as an RA to TSSU. They worked on three projects simultaneously, where the method and time of payment varied for each project. Despite taking on three separate projects, the RA was still not receiving a living wage.

“The salaries from the first two projects were not sufficient to pay for my rent and living expenses. As a result, I had to work 30–40 hr/wk at my hourly wage job in addition to the first two projects. I spent 50–60 hours a week on campus. In terms of mental and emotional labour, I was never not at work. [ . . . ] On August 20, I got the news that the funding I was relying on to pay my tuition in the Fall would no longer be coming my way. [ . . . ] This meant that if I was not able to secure a student loan in 3 weeks to cover my tuition, not only would I be out of school, I would also be unemployed.”

Derek Sahota, a TSSU advocate spoke to the average wages an RA receives in an interview with The Peak,

“A typical environment is you’re working [ . . . ] 50–60 hours a week and you’re making (after you pay your tuition) a thousand to two thousand dollars a month, so it’s much less than you would make even at minimum wage.” 

In addition to not receiving a living wage, RAs also face the possibility of their work and related IP being stolen from them. If an RA creates something patentable and licensable during their work under the supervision of a faculty supervisor, they may not retain the rights to their work due to factors such as coercion.

Sahota provided a hypothetical example, similar to those that have repeatedly been reported to SFU. Say that an RA is paid from a grant to work on solar cells as a part of their work towards their thesis. In this case, the RA is working towards the capstone project of their academic career and is receiving employment. 

Through their work as an RA they develop a new technique for a solar cell, something that is potentially patentable, licensable and therefore profitable. Their faculty supervisor (who essentially controls the RA’s employment, academic career and potentially their status in the country) may ask the RA to sign an agreement that would give SFU all the rights associated with this new IP or face consequences, such as refusing to allow them to defend their thesis. 

This environment allows for coercion, where faculty and SFU can use their nearly absolute power over graduate student RAs to steal their IP. RAs are usually just starting their graduate career and are not told the rights they have regarding IP.

If a student were to report such coercion regarding IP, their options are limited. They would have to report their case to the SFU Technology Licensing Office or the Office of the Vice-President, Research and International (VPRI). Harjap Grewal, the Advocate and Policy of the Graduate Student Society (GSS), spoke to the current reporting processes in an interview with The Peak,

“The office is linked to industry, and it isn’t necessarily set up [ . . . ] for a student to go get advice or to better understand their legal rights with regards to IP [ . . . ] if there’s a dispute [a student] can go through the VPRI [ . . . ] but the concerns we’ve had with that office is that it is an office that consists of either existing or former faculty members that [adjudicate] whether something should proceed to investigation or not.” 

Grewal continued, “The VPRI Office has a vested interest in increasing research dollars coming into the university and private firms that want to do research in partnership with the university [ . . . ] there is an incentive to undermine the rights of students in order to attract industry by making IP more readily available to capture from students. You can’t put a lot of trust into that office to fairly respond to the concerns of students. We need an office that is independent of fundraising and industry interests.”

Not only is this unethical and a violation of power, it is also against SFU’s own intellectual property policy. Point 5.4 of SFU’s IP policy states the following:

“The University specifically acknowledges that IP created exclusively by a student Creator in the course of completing the requirements for an academic degree or certificate is owned by the student Creator, to the extent that the IP comprises part of the requirements for the degree or certificate.”

The School of Mechatronic Systems Engineering (MSE) at SFU Surrey has been subject to multiple of these cases being brought forward by RAs. Due to this, there have been two separate external reviews done of the school; one of which SFU has released, and one that SFU has kept confidential despite several calls for its release. 

The review cites that three separate student cases were thought to be the catalyst for the review. Recommended action 17 of the external review speaks to how the IP, Integrity in Research and Conflict of Interest (COI) guidelines and procedures all should be updated and reviewed. The preamble to this recommendation in the external review also states the following:

“Most MSE professors do not understand SFU policies on COI and IP [ . . . ] this leads some researchers to not report instances of COI, to create their own practices around COI and IP and even to write their own agreements that they then have their students sign.”

This is particularly problematic when the managing director of a venture capital company and a director on the board of a tech company is the associate director of SFU’s Innovation Office, which the Technology Licensing Office (one of the offices RA’s go to to report cases of possible theft of IP) falls under. The director of MSE was also the CEO on the board of the same tech company. 

This was the case until early 2019 in MSE, where the external review made indirect reference to this situation in recommended action 12:

“In the future, terms for Director, Associate Director and Graduate Chair should be limited. The length of the terms of the Associate Director and the Graduate Chair should be shorter than that of the Director and the changeover should be staggered such that new people are taking on leadership roles in the School regularly.”

It is clear that SFU is taking advantage of graduate students, whether it be by denying the terms of the agreement with TSSU, not paying RAs a living wage, or stealing/coercing RAs to sign away the rights to their IP.

Grewal outlined the next steps the GSS is planning to take to make students aware of their rights if they find themselves in such situations in the future.

“We’re very supportive of RA unionization because I think that will have an enormous impact not just on the working conditions of graduate students, but them being able to exercise their rights in a way that’s not dependent on the good will of faculty members. [ . . . ] The other piece that we’re doing is putting out a rights guide [ . . . ] in that guide we’re talking about the rights that graduate students have more generally, but we’re also specifically telling graduate students that they do not need to sign away their IP before they begin research at SFU.”

peluda, One Day at a Time, and how I came to appreciate my Latina body hair

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Representations such as Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s book can be powerful tools for embracing body hair. Courtesy of Button Poetry

Editor’s note: A previous version of this piece misspelled Frida Kahlo’s last name, but has now been corrected. 

By: Michelle Young, News Editor

My mom sometimes calls me peluda in Spanish. This can translate to “fuzzy” or “hairy.” It can be a cute nickname — perhaps for a pet — but it’s generally not something you’d want to be referred to as an adult. As a young girl, I watched my mom, aunts, and grandmother painfully wax their upper lips, eyebrows, and chins. I thought one day, I would inevitably have to do the same. 

Thankfully, that never happened, and as a Latina, my body hair is now one of the things about my physical appearance that reminds me of my heritage. I only realized this once I started seeking out Latinx stories and began talking about body hair with my Latinx friends and family. This is when I learned that our struggle against body hair is a shared one.  

I’d like to preface this piece by noting that I’m often met with looks of surprise when Latinx peers and strangers discover that I’m of Venezuelan heritage. My pale skin often means I have to clarify my ethnicity; many stumble over their words trying to ask me where I come from. While I recognize that being ethnically ambiguous is a privilege, my identity has always been messy. So when I began to realize that my body hair was a trait shared by many cis and trans Latina women and non-binary Latinx individuals — I found a reason to revel in it. 

Growing up I was teased for my fuzzy eyebrows, baby hairs, and furry forearms. As my hair began to flourish, I was convinced I would need to undergo full-body waxes regularly for anyone to consider me desirable. So, when Melissa Lozada-Oliva published the poetry collection, peluda, I rushed to purchase a copy and consumed it in one evening. 

I appreciated the open approach she took to writing about body hair, connecting it to the first-generation immigrant experience, and the search for a place to belong. Lozada-Oliva openly discussed how “bikini lines become bikini borders” and how “your mother drags you to the salon & asks them to feex it but maybe this is what will never be fixed.” I resonated with how the book questioned the standard of the white, waxed body, and demonstrated that hairer women may have a harder time accepting theirs. 

Then there’s the Netflix sitcom, One Day at a Time (2017), which also centres around the Latinx experience. It pokes fun at central character Elena’s mustache and her “single eyebrow.” The show is open in its dialogue about body hair and does not shy away from pointing out how ridiculous it is that the standard for women is to be hairless. Elena’s mother, Penelope, is shown on-screen, shaving her upper lip while telling her son, “I am a Latina, you’re a 12-year-old boy, so we have the same amount of facial fuzz.” 

When I think of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and how she exaggerated her unibrow in her paintings and kept her mustache visible in all the photos I see of her, I’m met with comfort and pride. 

My journey to acceptance continued with discussions of body hair with other Latina women, among family and friends. Out in the open, we talked about shaving, waxing, plucking, and threading. Through these conversations I realized two things: not only are there people as hairy as I am, but the way we deal with our body hair is a very personalized experience and our relationships with it can be complex.  

Now, I can easily laugh with my family and friends about our hair, because I finally realize that it’s not something to be shameful of. However, it would have taken me much longer to realize if there wasn’t any Latinx culture represented in the media I consumed. Hair really is just hair — but for me it turned into something more, a reminder of my heritage. 

Mask usage mandated provincial-wide across indoor public places

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Written by: Mahdi Dialden, News Writer 

A mask mandate has been implemented province-wide in all indoor public and retail places. The announcement from Dr. Bonnie Henry on November 20, 2020 came amidst the rise in COVID-19 cases hitting local records in the province since the pandemic started. 

Previously, SFU health sciences professor Scott Lear created a petition demanding a mask mandate in the Greater Vancouver area and asked BC Health Minister Adrian Dix to consider making masks mandatory in all indoor places to stop the spread of the virus. 

Lear views the mandate as a preventive strategy: “Things that we’re putting in are very reactive [ . . . ] The idea of wearing masks is to prevent cases going up [ . . . ] Wearing a mask would be more favourable than having my place of employment shut down or the place where I like to go eat shut down,” he added.

A week earlier, Dr. Henry was asked if she would consider a provincial-wide mask mandate similar to other jurisdictions. She stated, “No. We have always said that these individual measures are ones that we expect people to do and we’ve seen that that is the way that people have responded to that. We know that there are some people who are not able to wear masks and we need to respect that. But most people can and do,” she responded.

Lear said that the former expectation that people would follow suggestions based on goodwill is not reasonable and “goes against decades of research [as] knowledge of something doesn’t equal behaviour.” Lear explained, “Public health measures can help shift or determine social norms. So if we see [more people wearing a mask], the more likely we’re to go ourselves, going to wear a mask.

“We should be making all efforts to stop this and get out of it as fast as we can and if by getting a mask mandate, if that can reduce cases, maybe that can reduce having to lean on restrictions as much and I think that’s overall healthier for the community.” 

Hunker down for the winter with these five independent bookstores

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From rare books to books on anti-oppression, these bookstores have got you covered. ILLUSTRATION: Shaheen Virk / The Peak

By: Kimia Mansouri, SFU Student

Editor’s note: MacLeod’s Books is facing having to downsize 75% of their stock, despite having been at their current location since 1982. More information can be found in this Georgia Straight article discussing the matter. If readers are interested in preserving local businesses, it may be worth supporting them during this time.

If you’re looking for a healthy coping mechanism to deal with the winter and COVID-19 restricting us to our bubbles, look no further than these five independent bookstores. They offer affordable portals to escape reality with and give you the chance to support indie bookstores in these trying times. 

Massy Books

Location: 229 E. Georgia St, Vancouver, BC
Instagram: @massybooks 

Not only does this two-storey Indigenous-owned bookstore have a remarkable collection of books, but it’s also a safe haven for anyone interested in writing and reading. Located in Chinatown, Massy Books readily welcomes you with organized shelves of books on the ground floor and local artists’ exhibitions on the second floor. They have various events planned out for each month, such as Book Talks, which have moved online due to the pandemic. They have also partnered with Room Magazine to create The Indigenous Brilliance Reading Series to empower Indigenous women, Two-Spirit and queer writers. You can sign up for their newsletter to stay updated on events, and/or follow them on Instagram. So click on their website to stock up for winter break, or visit them with a mask on. 

Spartacus Books

Location: 3378 Findlay St, Vancouver, BC
Instagram: @spartacusbooks

Spartacus Books is a non-profit, volunteer-run bookstore that has been open since 1973. They stand against capitalism and colonialism by offering diverse resources that “challenge the reproduction of oppressive politics within our personal lives.”

The store is the ultimate hangout spot for anti-oppressive folks who are interested in reading. The best section of the store, in my personal opinion, is the area furnished with a couple of couches and magazines everywhere that establishes a cozy, approachable corner to have discussions and plot against oppression — something to look forward to once this pandemic ends. There is usually a fridge for people to help themselves to some food however, due to the pandemic, they’ve taken measures to keep everyone safe by not hosting social gatherings and having shared food in the store. If you want to support them, you can drop by (masks are mandatory), or browse their online inventory that’s updated daily. You can also become a member or volunteer your time by applying on their website. 

MacLeod’s Books

Location: 455 W Pender St, Vancouver, BC
Instagram: @macleodsbooks

Stepping into this bookstore, you’ll feel as if you’ve entered Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. For anyone obsessed with messy, dark academia aesthetics and collecting rare and antiquarian books, this is the perfect place to spend hours in. With books all over the place and that dusty “biblichor” (the particular smell of old books), the flood of endorphins that’ll rush all over you will make you forget about that one test you nearly failed. People might perceive this as a disorganized bookstore, but trust me, as someone who has spent hours there, there is an order to the chaos. They have limited the capacity of customers in the store, but it’s still a good idea to visit during their quieter hours (usually opening to early afternoon), since it can be impossible to maintain distance. 

 Carson Books & Records 

Location: 4340 Main St, Vancouver, BC
Facebook: Carson Books & Records 

Entering Carson Books & Records, located in Vancouver’s most hipster neighbourhood, you’ll find yourself surrounded by stacks of books, enveloped by the old book smell. Even though it’s quite a small store, it offers a wide selection of second-hand books and I enjoy knowing that each book holds a backstory within its pages, once capturing the attention of a stranger.

Carson Books has some of the most reasonable prices, making any finds there a real steal. This goes for both books and their mostly jazz-focused collection of records. What most people agree on when visiting this store is that the owner and staff are passionate, well-informed, and friendly. They are eager to assist you with your needs and encourage book talks. If you’re the kind of person who buys a lot of books even though your pile of to-be-read books is judging you, I’d recommend shopping here so your wallet won’t feel so cold. 

Pulp Fiction Books

Locations: 2422 Main St Vancouver, BC
Instagram: @pfbvan

Pulp Fiction Books bases the new and second-hand books they bring to their stores on customer requests, truly making their collection exclusive. The Main Street shop is my personal favourite, with welcoming staff and organized books to help you easily find your way around easily. Once you enter the store, you’ll be greeted by recent popular books neatly organized on shelves, and artistic posters that’ll take you back to the eighties on the wall all around you. The back of the store is filled by three hallways brimming with books and low ceilings. 

You can also sell any books you don’t want by following the guidelines on their website, or if they don’t accept your sale, you have the option of having them donate your books to Vancouver General Hospital Thrift store,  Burnaby Hospice Society Thrift Store, and more. 

More bookstores to check out:

SFU epidemiologist receives Trailblazer Award for active transportation research

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News
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PHOTO: Roman Koester / Unsplash

Written by: Emma Jean, Staff Writer

SFU health sciences associate professor Dr. Meghan Winters was awarded the Trailblazer Award by The Canadian Institute of Health Research. It recognizes her career-long work in researching public health, mobility, and transportation. 

The award, for Population and Public Health Research, specifically acknowledges her achievements within the field of active transportation, done by bicycle and foot, and her role in researching how cities can plan infrastructure to make these options accessible for all people. 

In Dr. Winters’ research, the impact of different active transportation policies on the populations that use them is analyzed. “With any of these kinds of initiatives, there are often unintended consequences,” she told The Peak. “As a population health researcher, I’m looking for the impact of these things, who are they impacting the most, and who might they actually be harming.”

This has taken form in research labs focusing on how active transportation impacts the well-being and community of cities, like the Interventions, Research, and Action in Cities Team, or INTERACT, with which she is a principal investigator. The program is one of the first of its kind to use publicly-sourced data, in the form of exercise app Strava, on which users track their cycling or running routes. 

“We need to get a sense of where we see more cyclists in the city. It’s hard to get really rich spatiotemporal data [which accounts where cyclists are in time and space], so with this sort of citizen science data by using things like Strava, we can get a richer picture of where people are cycling across the city and get really nuanced data.”

In previous research, Dr. Winters studied the mobility of older adults and its impact on their environment at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, which informs her work today. “We’re looking for how community design impacts people across all ages and abilities, and that might be people as they age as well. I want to highlight that the experiences of people as they age are very heterogeneous.” 

She described the complexities of aging, and how a city’s planning impacts it as something worth researching. “Often what I’m doing is trying to unpack common myths [ . . . ] there’s always nuance to those stories. It’s about reaching out to individuals and getting different perspectives and understanding how a particular design or program or policy affects them directly, and what the specifics might be for them.”

In regards to the future of her work, she sees the COVID-19 pandemic as having a major impact her research in two ways: one related to active transportation, specifically how new outdoor facilities to accommodate social distancing impacts it, and the other related to what she calls “social connectedness,” and how public infrastructure can facilitate it. 

“As soon as [our physical communities have] been taken away from us, we all realise ‘God, what would I do if I didn’t have places to connect with people; if I couldn’t get out there and meet face-to-face with people; if there’s not a public space where we can get together and meet with each other and be warm enough, to be sheltered from the rain?’ 

“We’ve been doing this work for a number of years and perhaps it wasn’t as easy to get funded, but I would say right now, it turns out now to be a high priority and high recognition in terms of the importance of understanding the health benefits and creating communities for where people can feel connected.”

We have to hold our political leaders accountable after they are elected

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Opinions
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Casting a ballot shouldn’t be the last action that is taken. PHOTO: Element5 Digital / Unsplash

by Kelly Chia, Peak Associate

As I’m writing this, election news is very fresh on my mind. John Horgan has been re-elected as premier — and, to me, it is a relief that the NDP is staying in power. However, I know I’m not the only one to warily eye the presidential election in the United States. While it felt good to celebrate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President-elect respectively, that celebration comes with the urgent reminder that we must still be vigilant and engage our elected politicians as our employees, not idolize them. 

The most obvious case I can refer to for idolizing a political leader is the way President Trump’s followers are so devoted to him. In an exit poll examining how voters cast their ballots, 86% of people who voted for Trump thought that he was handling the pandemic very well. This perfectly exemplifies how political devotion can blind people to their leaders’ mistakes, as the pandemic in the states is far from under control. However, with the election of Biden and Harris, I’m even more worried that people will be content with political leaders that seem more candid than Trump, because the risks posed by them don’t seem as urgent.

“Rather than being complacent because a left-leaning leader has been elected, it’s more important than ever to make sure that they work for the people.”

That lack of scrutiny may further entrench marginalized people in silence. The United States is rife with blatant displays of systemic racism, something I’m reminded of seeing the Proud Boys being escorted by riot police a few weeks ago, knowing how quickly peaceful protests for Black lives earlier this year were escalated by them. Even so, having a leader that doesn’t embolden white supremacy groups like the Proud Boys as Trump did in the presidential debates, is the bare minimum. Rather than being complacent because a left-leaning leader has been elected, it’s more important than ever to make sure that they work for the people. 

We need to pay attention to when politicians express meaningful sentiments of unity in their speeches, but their policies don’t reflect these sentiments. For one thing, policy-making is their job. We can certainly appreciate and celebrate their policies, but treating them as celebrities for accomplishing these policies is a dangerous precedent because it can make us view their mistakes through rose-coloured lenses. 

A prime example here is how Trudeau was treated when he was first elected as Prime Minister in 2015, Trudeau was made the cover of Rolling Stone, with cover text gushing over him as a leader. Idolizing him as this unusually handsome and charismatic leader ignores how many mistakes he has made while he has been in office. For example, Trudeau campaigned for electoral reform, but did nothing to change the current first-past-the-post voting system. He also accepted the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) report while simultaneously buying the Trans Mountain Pipeline, disregarding Indigenous communities. And yet, as a global leader, his performance is celebrated compared to Trump’s because of his charisma. It completely undermines him as a political employee, and the people that he has hurt with his policies, which is unacceptable.  

Even if Trudeau hadn’t gone against his word multiple times, and he has many times, we shouldn’t celebrate politicians for doing the bare minimum. As I said previously, I am relieved that John Horgan has been re-elected as many NDP policies reflect my beliefs. But already, Horgan has said that he can’t guarantee payments to families during the pandemic, something that his party promised in their re-election campaign. He is also allowing the Trans Mountain Pipeline to proceed legitimately despite saying he would attempt to stop it from expanding into Burnaby. For going against his word, he should be more harshly criticized. We can’t let sentiments like “it could be so much worse” distract us from that, because it makes their mistakes seem unimportant 

We need to continue paying attention to local and federal policies and rallying against them when they mistreat people, because politicians aren’t, and shouldn’t be, in total control. This is something we should do regardless of who’s in charge, because hurtful policies under left-leaning leaders are still hurtful. Holding our leaders accountable to their promises puts them in their rightful position as people who are supposed to serve us, not be our idols.

In the end, their policies speak louder than whatever beautiful speeches and promises they make, no matter how much better they may seem in comparison to their political opponents, or other political leaders.

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024